Overview
A powerful novel that's "hilarious, heartbreaking, and ass-kicking" (Jamie Ford), of a Puerto Rican family in Staten Island who discovers their longāmissing sister is potentially alive and cast on a reality TV show, and they set out to bring her home.
A March Indie Next Pick! Belletrist, Phenomenal, and Readers Digest book club pick! Longlisted for the Aspen Words Literary Prize andĀ PEN/Faulkner Award!
The Ramirez women of Staten Island orbit around absence. When thirteenāyearāold middle child Ruthy disappeared after track practice without a trace, it left the family scarred and scrambling. One night, twelve years later, oldest sister Jessica spots a woman on her TV screen in Catfight, a raunchy reality show. She rushes to tell her younger sister, Nina: This woman's hair is dyed red, and she calls herself Ruby, but the beauty mark under her left eye is instantly recognizable. Could it be Ruthy, after all this time?
The years since Ruthy's disappearance haven't been easy on the Ramirez family. Itās 2008, and their mother, Dolores, still struggles with the loss, Jessica juggles a newborn baby with her hospital job, and Nina, after four successful years at college, has returned home to medical school rejections and is forced to work in the mall folding tiny bedazzled thongs at the lingerie store.
After seeing maybeāRuthy on their screen, Jessica and Nina hatch a plan to drive to where the show is filmed in search of their longālost sister. When Dolores catches wind of their scheme, she insists on joining, along with her pot-stirring holy roller best friend, Irene. What follows is a family road trip and reckoning that will force the Ramirez women to finally face the past and look toward a futureāwith or without Ruthy in it.
What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez is a vivid family portrait, in all its shattered reality, exploring the familial bonds between women and cycles of generational violence, colonialism, race, and silence, replete with snark, resentment, tenderness, and, of course, love.
A Most Anticipated Book of 2023 byĀ Elle ā¢Ā USA Today ā¢Ā Today.comĀ ā¢ Ms. MagazineĀ ā¢ Good Housekeeping ā¢ Bustle ā¢ The Week ā¢Ā Goodreads ā¢ Bookriot ā¢ Pop Culturely ā¢ SheReads ā¢ Litreactor ā¢ Electric LitĀ ā¢ The Mary SueĀ ā¢ People EspaƱolĀ ā¢ Zibby Mag ā¢Ā DebutifulĀ ā¢ Her Campus
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Best Books of March byĀ Shondaland ā¢ Ms. MagazineĀ ā¢ Popsugar ā¢Ā Bookriot ā¢Ā Debutiful ā¢Ā Powellās Book Blog ā¢Ā TIME 100 must-read bookĀ of 2023Ā ā¢Ā BooklistĀ Top 10 debutĀ of 2023Ā ā¢ Library JournalĀ Best Pop Fiction of 2023Ā ā¢ The Latinidad ListāĀ Best Debut Novel of 2023Ā ā¢Ā Chicago Public Library Favorite Book of 2023Ā ā¢ Good HousekeepingĀ Must-Read BookĀ of 2023Ā ā¢Ā Today.com Standout Book of 2023
Includes a Reading Group Guide.
This book title, What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez, ISBN: 9781538725979, by Claire Jimenez, published by Grand Central Publishing (February 20, 2024) is available in paperback. Our minimum order quantity is 25 copies. All standard bulk book orders ship FREE in the continental USA and delivered in 4-10 business days.
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